This is such a shameful list. Like, there are some books on this list that I’m truly embarrassed to have not read.
I probably wouldn’t even admit some of these to you face to face. So, enjoy my honesty!
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Not even kidding, I think that if it had been on my resume that I hadn’t read this book, I would not have my current job. Okay so I am slightly kidding, because we have better HR practices than that, but I cop a lot of heat for having not read The Book Thief. I own a copy, if that’s a start. Maybe 2016 will be the year I finally get to it!
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I’ve seen the movie, I’ve seen the BBC show, I’ve read the modern retelling. I’ve picked up Pride and Prejudice and started it about ten times, making it to various stages of the first half. I’ve read ahead and become too caught up in other things to finish it. I have never started and finished Pride and Prejudice from cover to cover in my life.
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. Now that I understand how listening to books with Scandinavian people and place names can be easier for me to follow than physically reading them, I’m about an hour into the Burial Rites audiobook. I will finish it soon and I will *finally* take this book out of my TBR pile.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan. I hope you’re sensing the theme here of me not reading big and important Australian books. I mean well, I really do, and I will push them on whoever will listen, but I just haven’t ever gotten around to reading them, Richard Flanagan’s Man Booker Prize winner included.
The Stand by Stephen King. I’ve read Under the Dome multiple times and this leads some people to believe that I will have read The Stand. These people are wrong. I’ve forever been so put off by the sheer size of King’s dystopian epic that I’ve never dared to pick it up, but I want to change that.
The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood. I got a proof copy of this many months before it hit shelves and got everyone talking, and I feel like a really bad person for not having read it yet. My best friend’s production company has just secured the rights to adapt it for film, though, so I’m really running out of time. I’ll get to it soon, K, I promise.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. There are loads of classics that I haven’t read and won’t admit to in this post, but Lolita is one that I feel particularly bad about. Like most classics, I know the story and I’m familiar with the themes and messages in the book, but I’ve just never read it.
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. I remember reading an article a while back that reported Nineteen Eighty-Four to be the book most frequently lied about by people who say they’ve read it when they haven’t. I’m coming clean. I haven’t read it.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. This has been recommended to me so many times that I’ve lost count and, surprise surprise, I own a copy. Maybe one day…
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Believe me when I say that I so badly want to get this one off the list of books I haven’t read. I’ve read quite a few Christie novels over the years, but not the one many people consider to be her masterpiece.
That is my shameful 10. Are there any on this list that you also haven’t read? Are there any you think I absolutely must read right now? Let me know in the comments.
